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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

TheAssailant6661 Reviews: Crysis Maximum Edition

Note: I don't own Crysis: Maximum Edition. I bought the games individually. Crysis: Maximum Edition can be picked up for only $40.

In 2002, Crytek debuted their CryEngine to the world. Crytek developed the original Far Cry for PC using the engine. They however didn't develop any of the spin-offs & sequels, Ubisoft did. While Ubisoft was releasing spin-offs and a spiritual sequel to Far Cry (because Jack Carver's not even in it), Crytek worked on their next engine, CryEngine 2. The flagship title for this new engine was Crysis, which boasted the world's best graphics and could barely run on high-end systems. To this day, nothing has been able to compare to Crysis' level of graphical detail.

Crysis puts you into the shoes of First Lieutenant Jake "Nomad" Dunn. You're a member of the elite US Army Delta Force unit, Raptor Team. The team is racially diverse. Major Laurence "Prophet" Barnes is your Black commander, Martin "Jester" Hawker who is also Black, Harold "Aztec" Cortez who is Hispanic, and Sergeant Michael "Psycho" Sykes who used to be a British SAS Op who looks eerily similar to Jason Statham.

Your team is sent into the Lingshan Islands to investigate the take-over by the North Korean People's Army. Your primary mission objective is to locate hostages and neutralize the enemy, while your secondary objective is to uncover why the KPA are there to begin with.

Your team eventually comes across a frozen ship, stranded deep in the middle of the jungle. You soon find that there are also aliens on the island with the ability to freeze things that are emerging from the middle of the island. I won't spoil the whole story (that's what Youtube's for), but I will say it's a bit compelling.

What makes your team special and sets it apart from the other teams in the Army, is the secretive Nanosuit. The suit can make you harder, better, faster, & stronger. Armor mode can stop bullets and quickly regenerate your health. Speed mode can make you run much quicker for a short period of time. Strength mode can allow you to jump higher, throw farther, and it can also reduce recoil when using firearms. Cloak mode refracts light away from the suit, making you appear invisible but can emit noise that can be heard by young children and those trained.

The nanosuit is a game element like no other. It allows you to make a choice between running into a base Rambo style, or sneak in Metal Gear style. The HUD's mini map will even provide the alertness level of the enemy, but it all boils down to Veni, vidi, vici, unless you decide to sneak past the enemy all together.

If you find that a bit unfair for the Koreans, you'll be glad to know that the KPA have their own nanosuits. They're extremely annoying as they have the same abilities as you and more likely than not out number you, making a rushed, all-out attack nearly impossible. I have spent 2-3 hours in one level sneaking around trying to find the ideal area to take out the 3 remaining nanosuits who were in high areas.

2/3rds of the way through the game and everything changes. After leaving the alien space ship, the aliens unleash a large orb which engulfs half the island and freeze everything instantly. Not only is there a completely new environment, but there are now completely new enemies to worry about. There are Troopers who can take quite a few bullets. Then there are larger Scouts. These require a lot of bullets as well. Then, there is the Alien Hunters, large alien exosuits that require quite a few RPGs to take out.

Crysis may not be a groundbreaking FPS, but that's not to say it isn't unique. The Nanosuits, graphical detail and real-time weapons modification set Crysis apart from the competition. Although some mods make no sense, such as the ability to put a scope onto a shotgun, but the fact you can do that makes it better. Weapons can even be set to Automatic to Manual (for example the SCAR and SMG), or from single-fire to double-fire (pistols), or even change the burst in the shotgun.

In Crysis Warhead, you assume the role of Jason Statham Psycho on his solo mission that takes place elsewhere on the island. His job is to find out what the KPA is secretly shipping and why is it such a secret. The story is much shorter than Crysis, comparable to Halo 3's single player. When I bought it was cheaper than Crysis and came with Crysis Wars. You don't need Crysis to play it either, as it is a standalone expansion.

Crysis Warhead is more action-packed than the original and is a bit harder with tougher aliens, and more Alien Hunters to boot.

Crysis Warhead presents various fixes to the original. It not only looks better, but with tweaks to the engine, it even runs better than Crysis.

Crysis Wars is the online component to Crysis Warhead and is much improved over the Multiplayer of Crysis. Crytek has recently opened up Crysis Wars to modding, allowing for possible implementation of a Single Player mode if they really needed one.

The Crysis series has a pretty large modding and map making community at http://www.crymod.com. This is where PC games shine, allowing for infinite replayability through custom maps anyone with enough knowledge can make by installing the Sandbox 2 Editor found on the Crysis disc.

The music is composed my famed composer Inon Zur, who has made music for various large titles, such as Fallout 3, Prince of Persia & Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.

Overall, the Crysis series can and has provided plenty of entertainment and near endless creativity. The games are fun and I enjoyed them.